Merry Christmas, everyone! I ought to post about Christmas, my visit to Brisbane, the Twilight soundtrack, Georgette Heyer and ‘The Magician’s Guild’ by Trudi Canavan. But it is twenty past midnight, and I have an eyestrain headache.
I am rereading that most wonderful of novels ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ for the first time since I studied it in Yr11 at high school. I understand it a whole lot better, and am enjoying it immensely. I am not quite finished; I will review it later. But for now, I just had to blog one shining quote:
‘Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.’
(Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 21)
On the first watch, Twilight was enjoyable, but not great. At times it was heavy-handed and cringeworthy, but as it went on it improved and was very enjoyable. My teenage sister and I came out pulling ‘Edward faces’ and sighing in equal measure.
On the second watch, I had much more fun! I still laughed at times at the movie (eg. the obviousness of the music when Edward walks in, the strategic placing of owl wings) but I didn’t mind being manipulated so much. I noticed that apart from those three or so places where I was inclined to laugh, it was actually a good movie, with actors who put in very creditable performances. It matched the book extremely well, and the movie’s strengths and weaknesses are for the most part those of the book. I wasn’t expecting that they would have kept so many of the great parts of the books! I loved, in both book and movie, the believability of the characterisation of Bella’s teenage friends, the scenery around Forks (the forest was exactly as described – blue and wet and tangled – lovely). In looks and in acting, all of the characters matched their descriptions in the book to a tee. So on the second watching, I laughed less and enjoyed it more.
Even Edward’s full-blown byronic angst is understandable given his circumstances. Imagine being in hiding, carrying the guilt of knowing you’re a killer, forced to go to school for the rest of eternity and forever stuck at the age of 17, with all the hormones that go along with it. Add to this moody mix the fact that he can’t touch the girl of his dreams and has to concentrate not to rip her throat out, and you have a few reasons to brood. Neither he nor Robert Pattinson can help it that his facial expression does kind of jar with the realism of small town Forks.
So… it won’t win Oscars. But we never expected it to. If you go in with the expectation that yes, it is a movie made from a first novel; a teenage vampire romance story which is essentially a retelling of Romeo and Juliet (and so has all the suddenness of their forever-love); if you realise that it’s geared to wring the most angst and forbidden-romance tension from its predominantly teenage audience, you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of acting and the bonus extras of realistically written teenagers. And if, like me, you’re an incurable romantic, you might just really enjoy yourself.
